Album Review

Although the concept of Fozzy — an American metal band trapped in Japan for 20 years finds that its material has been stolen by other artists — suggests parallels with Spinal Tap, there's one very important difference: Spinal Tap wrote all its own original material, whereas Fozzy sticks exclusively to covers. So, in practice, when it's divorced from the story line of the accompanying web broadcasts, Fozzy just feels like an excuse for Chris Jericho and Stuck Mojo to perform their favorite early-'80s metal songs. But, considering that Fozzy is in reality a rap-metal band fronted by a professional wrestler, the album is surprisingly not bad. Jericho is a more than competent vocalist, and despite an occasional tendency to go a little too far over the top ("Over the Mountain" and the spoken intro to "The Prisoner"), he generally acquits himself well. The band, meanwhile, injects enough technical flash and showmanship to sound like a genuine early-'80s metal outfit. What's more, the all-around enthusiasm for this music is readily apparent (either that, or faked really well); it's played straight all the way through, with no attempts to make anything into ironic kitsch. So, all in all, the project turned out as well as was probably possible. Still, since these are all covers of fairly familiar items, Fozzy the album can't really stand on its own; it will likely be appreciated mainly by fans of the web series or of the people involved.

Customer Reviews

Fab album

by
donsybee

Well I was unsure about this ... the other half convinced me to take a look and now I am hooked. Fozzy may not be "main stream" but I certainly like their music. It is a bit like stepping back to when heavy rock and metal was new and fresh ... you are not 100% what to expect and when you take the time to lsten it really is not as bad as the concept seems. I have bought another Fozzy album and am seriously thinking of getting the third and going to a concert ... I am now a Fozzy convert.

Biography

Formed: 2000 in San Antonio, TX

Genre: Rock

Years Active: '90s, '00s, '10s

According to a series of short films broadcast on the Internet, Fozzy is a legendary American metal band who, unable to get out of their record contract, spent 20 years in Japan; when they returned to the U.S., lead singer Moongoose McQueen and the rest of the band found that artists like the Scorpions and Ozzy Osbourne had become stars by stealing Fozzy's material. In reality, Fozzy...